Why a Cape Breton post office handled a lot of mail every December

How'd you like to spend Christmas on Christmas Island?

The atollin the South Pacific, nowknown as Kiribati, was the subject of a song recorded by theAndrews Sisters with Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians in 1946.

As a British colony, itwas also the site of atomic testsin the 1950s, perhaps rendering it a less appealing place for a "holiday across the sea" despiteboasting a "great big coconut tree" or two.

But Canada has its own Christmas Island, a community on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and in 1997 the CBC'sFrank King visited to find out what the holiday season was like there.

All about the postmark

"Last Christmas and the Christmas before, we had 17,000 Christmas cards," Postmaster Margaret Rose McNeiltoldKing, who noted the rural outlet typically served "a few hundred people."

"That's not parcels and it's not our regular mail," clarified McNeil.

Why? It all came down to the ink she stampedon each card: a postmark bearing an image of a wreath and the words Christmas Island.

"People from all over bring their cards here for that extra touch of Christmas," said King.

The postmark, by the way, showed up best on a white envelope.

Besides being "a great advertisement for the tourists," as a visitor phrased it, Christmas Island also seemed to give kids an edge when they sent their letters to the North Pole.

"Children that mail cards or letters here to Santa Claus they're put in this little bag and they're off to Santa Claus," said McNeil, who herself was dressed in garb typically reserved for Mrs. Claus.